


You and I

by amibleeding_fromthestorm



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Drama, F/M, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-26 05:19:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16675261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amibleeding_fromthestorm/pseuds/amibleeding_fromthestorm
Summary: Steve hasn't been back in Hawaii long and it's been busy since he's been back with investigating his father's death and trying to remove the rest of the scum out of Hawaii. The last thing he expected right now was to run into Austin while trying to save one of his partner's lives.Austin has only been back in Hawaii for a few weeks and it's her first day on the job as Captain of the Honolulu Fire Department, a pretty big deal for her. For the second time in the last few months her world is flipped upside down when she runs into her high school sweetheart that walked away from her almost 14 years ago.What will become of their meeting?





	1. Been A Long Time But I'm Back In Town

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all!
> 
> So I know Hawaii 5-0 has been around for a minute but I'm finally getting around to it and I'm loving it. This story was vaguely inspired by the song 'You and I' by Lady Gaga. I'm anticipating a short story but I'm also anticipating a few spinoffs as well....that's if anyone even cares and likes it. Let me know what you think! I love hearing ideas!

Austin looked out over the flat piece of land that was being built up for her new house to be built on. It was taking a little longer than she had hoped it would take to get the actual house started but even so, the contractors were working hard each day that the weather allowed. Off in the distance, away from where the house was going to be, a separate company was busy adding more dirt that would soon become a small dirt bike track for her twin thirteen year old boys. That was a surprise for them that they didn’t know about yet and Austin was hoping it would ease the tension that was among the three of them over the somewhat sudden and drastic move from Los Angeles to Honolulu. Her boys were her world and she had sprung the move on them rather quickly after the death of her parents a couple of months ago. She needed a new beginning and more importantly, Honolulu had been home to her before Los Angeles. 

Austin checked the time on her watch and figured she had better start heading back in towards the city to get ready for her first night of work as Captain of one of the Honolulu fire departments. She had been offered this job by the Fire Chief in Los Angeles who claimed to have connections and that had been the deciding factor in getting her back to Hawaii. The pay was more than what she was making now and she had a little Captain time under her hat already. The only part that she wasn’t looking forward too was barging in on a department family that was already in the routine from another Captain. She had been through a captain change or two during her last ten years as a firefighter and she was the first to admit that she hated having to get used to someone new. She was hoping to make it as easy and laid back as possible. 

Austin arrived thirty minutes early for her shift start time and was introduced to all of the on duty firefighters. She was amazed by the modernness of the firehouse, having ever only lived in run down ones that the city didn’t want to have to fix up. After she was a given a tour by the Lieutenant on duty, she was taken to meet the Captain she would be replacing soon, Captain Sanders. 

“Good morning Austin! I was hoping you would be able to make it a little bit early. We just got called out to go relieve another department that has been on scene on some type of motion activated explosive device attached around the neck of one of the 5-0 officers. He’s on his knees in a parking lot, unable to move and apparently has been that way all day. So you’re first test of the day, what units would you recommend sending?” Captain Sanders asked.

Austin was caught a little off guard but immediately kicked into work mode. “Uh, I would send an engine truck in case of the worst and an EMS truck. I would also make a quiet entrance because I’m sure there’s enough activity in the area as it is. Would you agree with that?”

The Captain gave her a light smile and a nod as he grabbed his clearly used and abused helmet and handed Austin a brand new red helmet, identifying her as a Captain. She inwardly swelled with pride but that was something she would not show and would not get in her way of learning and trying to better this department. 

“I agree with your decision. I’m going to stand back and let you have control of the scene and please don’t get offended if I offer advice along the way.”

Austin shook her head. “Not at all. I’m here to simply continue what you’ve established. I would greatly appreciate your advice. However, I would like to let it be known that should any situation arise, I don’t simply stand back and lead my team, I’m right there with them.” 

Austin knew that was sometimes frowned upon as a captain and she had had the same problem as an officer in the Navy, but there was no way in hell she would ever send her team into an environment without going in with them if she was needed. She would have stepped down from every leading roll she had ever held and still would step down if that would be expected of her.

“I like that in a captain.” Captain Sanders smiles. “You are going to do great here, Austin.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Twenty minutes later the two units arrived on scene and Austin and Captain Sanders received report of the scene. The place was swarming with police officers and members of the Honolulu Bomb Squad and just ahead in the parking lot Austin could see the poor guy knelt down on his knees with a rather thick collar surrounding his neck. She didn’t like the fact at all that there was an unprotected man knelt down beside the guy but from what she had heard since her return to Hawaii was that the 5-0 task force was a very tight knit group of three guys and one girl who got away with pretty much anything when it came to fighting crime on the island. 

There wasn’t much to do for the time being but to be on stand by in case something happened or the guy, Chin, was finally freed. From what she had heard, two other members of the force were out right now trying to put an end to the situation. Austin stayed busy by staying alert to the surroundings and listening to any and all updates from the police. Austin was quickly realizing that she was going to have to get used to the constant Hawaii heat in her turnout gear. She thought she would be been immune to the heat seeing as how she worked in it all the time but adding heat from the air temperature always made it worse. 

Austin spent the somewhat free time getting to know her knew family and so far she felt like she was going to fit in with everyone. A couple of the guys were from Hawaii like her and a few were not, but there wasn’t anything wrong with that. Their conversations stopped abruptly as there was a sudden increase in intense chatter and then everyone fell silent as a police officer walked over to Austin. 

“Supposedly the bomb has been deactivated and will be removed.”

Austin looked up as the policeman spoke and sure enough, the blonde haired man that had been by the victims side this whole time, slowly inched forward and reached for the collar. Austin felt her gut tighten up not knowing what to expect, and no amount of mental preparation would have had her ready to see two guys blown up. She mentally reminded herself to grab her turnout jacket should anything happen because she had stripped down to just her department T-shirt and turnout overalls but she couldn’t bring herself to turn away to grab it at this second. The entire crowd had ceased talking as the collar was successfully removed and handed over the explosive device to the bomb squad. Austin let out a huge sigh of relief she had no idea she had been holding in, and removed her helmet, setting on one of the trucks door steps. 

“Alright guys, given him a few minutes and let’s take a look at him. He could probably use some fluids after all of this.” Austin told the paramedics. 

She kept a close eye on the Asian man as the blonde haired guy helped him to his feet and started talking wildly with his hands. Not long after, an Asian girl and a tall guy in a bullet proof vest and cargo pants ran up to him. Austin froze to the very spot she was standing in almost as if her parents had suddenly appeared out of the crowd of people but her eyes were glued to the man in the vest. Austin wasn’t sure if her suspicions were correct or not and almost as if the man could sense something, he locked eyes with Austin and her suspicions and an almost dreaded fear were confirmed. 

_Steve’s body glistened with sweat as he hovered over Austin, his chest rising and falling heavily despite the amazing shape that he was in. He nuzzled his face into the crook of Austin’s neck, his hair sticking to his forehead as he nipped playfully at Austin’s neck. Austin was struggling to catch her breath herself but Steve was making it incredibly hard to do so._

_“I love you, A.” His voice was quiet, shaky._

_“I love you, too.”_

Austin’s stomach fluttered, giving her the almost same feeling that she had felt all of those nights with Steven back in high school, and while they were in the Navy together. Just as quickly as the flashback started, she brought herself back to earth reminding herself that she was working and had a job to do. She had no idea what had ever become of Steven after the plane crash that had almost killed both of them. It had been years since they had talked and to run into him again was the very last thing she ever expected.

Austin checked in on the Asian guy in the ambulance, Chin she had learned his name was, and started preparing to head back to the firehouse since the situation was over and nothing had happened to require their services other than some minor care. She laid her helmet on the seat of the truck and threw her jacket in behind it.

“How long have you been back?” 

Austin closed her eyes as her heartbeat sped up at the sound of his unmistakable voice. She wasn’t sure what she had been expecting or hoping for, to see him and talk to him or for him to just forget that he had seen her. He didn’t sound too happy and as she stepped back from the shelter of the fire engine door, she saw that he looked pissed as well. 

“It’s nice to see you, too, Steven.” She said calmly, but still sarcastically. 

He wasn’t amused. “I asked you a question. How long?”

“Okay first of all, stop talking to me like I’m one of your suspects that you’re investigating because last time I checked, I didn’t need your permission to be here. And second, not that it concerns you, but I haven’t been back long.”

Austin was a little taken aback by the way he was talking to her, and she was starting to get pissed. She was trying to make her second major life change and this one had been harder than the first change she’d had to make and this was the very last thing she needed. 

“Why?” He asked.

“Why what?”

“Why are you back?”

“Job offer. And speaking of, it’s my first day and obviously you running into me has ruined your day so I’m gonna go now and let you get back to your buddy. I would say hope to see you again but then again, maybe not.”

Austin turned away from Steve who was still staring at her with a look she wasn’t sure how to take, and she climbed up into the passenger seat of the fire engine, slamming the door behind her without so much as a second look in his direction. For the first time since the last time she had seen Steve and she had been through a lot since then, Austin felt herself breaking. Tears threatened her eyes as she fought hard to keep them at bay, the question running through her head, what the hell had she done?


	2. Sit Back Down Where You Belong

Austin was thankful for the distraction of learning the ins and outs of her new job and she took her time leaving the firehouse when her shift was over the next day. She had several days off before her next shift which she had been looking forward to rest up from the move and pick out stuff for the house but now she was dreading it, knowing that Steve was going to stay on her mind as well as the fear that she would run into him again at some point. 

She made her way back to the hotel where she would be staying until the house was finished and changed into some workout clothes though she wasn’t sure if she had intentions of working out or not. She headed to the nearest Home Depot and decided to focus only on painting and flooring today which proved to completely overwhelm her and stress her out. When her parents had built their Los Angeles home she remembered getting to pick out exactly how she wanted her room and it had been so much fun. She realized now why her parents had stayed so uptight during that period of time. There was so much to starting from ground zero and so much different than just decorating one room. She left the store hours later, frustrated with hardly anything accomplished except for what the boys had told her they wanted done with their rooms. Camden was extremely athletic and into almost every ball sport you could play, particularly baseball and football so it was no surprise to Austin that he had chosen red and blue and a Chicago Cubs theme for his room. Carter was her little punk and into extreme sports of all types including dirt bike riding, skateboarding and surfing. He had stuck with his typical colors of black, red, and grey.

Austin spent the rest of the day riding around and looking at old sites from before she had left the island, taking a dangerous speeding trip down memory lane, all of which included Steve somehow. The places from high school where they used to hang out in between school letting out and having to be at the football field on Friday night for games. Austin had always been different from the other girls but she had still been a cheerleader. Her and Steve had won cutest couple more than once and had been voted senior year as the first couple to get married and have a family. Of course that had never happened. 

The last place she found herself under the starlit night sky was a quiet, somewhat secluded part of the beach that for some reason no one seemed to go to. So many times on this piece of beach they had done things that kids their age should not have been doing but they were safe about it. She stared out over the moonlit water missing what used to be, something she hadn’t done since becoming a mother. She missed her and Steven, she missed bouncing back and forth from her parents to his, she missed her parents, she missed her boys. Every emotion that she had kept bottled up over the last few months was threatening to come exploding out and she was a tear drop away from swimming out into the water, as far from the shore as far as she possibly could and let whatever would happen, happen. 

“I see you haven’t forgotten.”

Steven sat down in the sand beside Austin, breathing heavily no doubt from a late night run he was on. Her heart was pounding because he had scared the shit out of her but she was at a point right now that she couldn’t have cared less if it was him or someone who was going to kidnap and murder her. She quickly wiped her tears away with the sleeve of her light jacket and kept staring straight ahead as the water made every attempt to reach her bare feet and his running shoes. 

“I couldn’t forget if I wanted to.”

Silence fell over them again for a bit until Steve spoke again. 

“I, um, I want to apologize for how I acted the other day. You didn’t deserve that. It was just a blast from the past that I wasn’t expecting and I’ve been getting hit with a lot of that lately.”

Now it was Austin’s turn. “You think it wasn’t a blast from the past for me? A pretty painful one at that? You left me, remember?”

“Yeah, I do. You think that it wasn’t hard for me?”

“It obviously wasn’t, Steven. You left way too easily and shut me down when I was almost begging you. When I needed you the most. But you know what? I didn’t move back for you and just because you’re here I’m not going to chase you or try to pick up where we left off. I’m sure you’re a totally different person now and I know I am. So you have no worries there.”

Steve knew she had a point and that there was no use in arguing or trying to make a point because if he was brutally honest with himself, what point did he have to make? She was right. He had come out better from the plane crash and was cleared to go back to duty and she wasn’t and he had left to go back. It wasn’t a lie for him to say that he thought about Austin way more than he should have and still did. There had been other girls, sure, but no one compared to her on any level. He found himself making a mental note that she was in a bad place right now and he had to tread lightly but one thing he couldn’t deny, if she was back on the island to live, he couldn’t let her get away twice. 

“Firefighting, huh? That’s the path you chose?” He asked her. 

“Yeah.” 

“And a Captain at that. Not bad.”

“Nothing impressive next to your status.”

“Come on, Austin. I said I was sorry for how I acted and I want to be civil.”

She turned and looked at him for the first good time, tears still streaming down her face. His voice was totally different today and it was the voice of the softer side of Steve not many people ever got to see and he sounded like her Steve again, trying to plead his way out of trouble like he had done all those years ago on the rare occasions that he had made Austin mad. She turned back to the water.

“There’s so much more with me right now than just running into you. You apologizing and wanting to talk isn’t going to change much.” 

“I understand. I have a lot going through my head as well. I think I saw you cry once or twice the entire time we were together and I hated each time. I’m not going anywhere unless you do or you tell me too, so I’m here.” He said.

Austin knew what he wanted and meant. He was letting her know if she wanted to talk about anything he was there for her. Maybe he had just been shocked to see her because this was almost the Steve that she knew and loved but she wasn’t ready to throw the past to the wind just yet. Before she could say anything else, he had closed the gap between them and wrapped his very muscular arm around her shoulders. He didn’t push any further than that, knowing that she had always been a person whose personal space you didn’t invade. Without knowing she was even doing it and no real mental strength to stop herself right now, Austin relaxed into his protective grip. 

“How long have you been back?” Austin asked, as her tears slowed and then came to a stop. 

She felt Steve tense up. 

“Not long. It wasn’t really by choice. Dad was, um, he was murdered.”

Austin spun around to face him so fast that she was sure she saw him jump. “What?! He was murdered?!”

“Yeah.”

“Steve, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.” If it wasn’t for the sound of the waves she was sure both of them would have heard her heart shatter. She love Steve’s parents as much as her own. Steve’s Dad had stayed in contact with her for a bit after the plane crash and Steve had left her but they had slowly lost touch. 

“Yeah. I came back to bury him and the Governor offered me a job of starting a task force to investigate his murder and take care of some other shit across the island, no strings attached, doing it my way. I turned her down at first but I didn’t really trust anyone else with the job so I took it.”

Austin looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Did someone inform the governor how you can get stupid crazy and stop at no costs to get what you want or protect those close to you?”

Steve looked down at her with those damn gorgeous eyes of his and gave her that crooked smile that had made her stomach flutter every time before he left. It still did. Even with the light hearted smile he was able to give, she could see past it and knew that he was hurt and determined and had a lot on his mind. Her heart broke again, this time for him. Steve was a great guy and would stop at nothing to protect those he loved and even those he didn’t know. She felt sorry too for whoever was involved in killing his father because she had no doubt that he would get to the bottom of it and make whoever was responsible pay dearly. 

Austin was certain her mind and actions were on autopilot with no control from her because she found herself now sitting in between Steve’s parted legs, leaned back against his muscular chest. She knew this was going way too far, way too fast after not having seen him for almost 14 years but she seemed to have no control over her actions or emotions right now. He rubbed her arm lightly and she was thankful she had sleeves on to hide the goosebumps that raised all over her body. 

“So, I find it hard to believe that a firefighting job out here payed that much more to get you back to Hawaii for good. Why are you really back?” He asked.

Austin sighed as she fought back another round of tears. “Family members getting murdered is something we have in common.”

“What?” Steve leaned her over so that he could see her face. The look in his eyes almost scared her but relaxed her at the same time. There was fury, but also protectiveness and hurt.

“You don’t watch the news much, do you?”

“I don’t have time to watch the news. What happened?”

“They were at the wrong place at the wrong time having lunch in Los Angeles and someone just started shooting. About three months ago. I wanted a new beginning. I wanted out of Los Angeles and somehow this job offer found me.”

“Shit, A. I’m sorry to hear that. Your parents were great people. They will be missed.”

Austin got chills again hearing him call her ‘A’, the way he did back in high school and the early stages of their Navy career.

“Same for your Dad.” She said as silence fell over them again.

“So where are you staying at then if you’re back for good?” Steve asked.

“Hotel for now. I’m building a house on another secluded part of the beach.”

Austin was careful to pick and choose her words and not say ‘we’ including her boys. That wasn’t something she was ready to tell him just yet and it would be a few months before the boys joined her anyhow because they had opted to finish the school year and stay with her Aunt and Uncle in LA. 

“That’s good. I have no excuse for my actions leaving you nor how I reacted the other day, but despite what you think, I am glad to see you and I’m glad you’re back.” He said. 

“Same.” Austin said as she again, not being to stop herself, reached for his hand and laced her fingers through his. 

A few short hours later the sun began to rise up over the water and the two said good bye to one another, but with the promise of speaking again soon. As Austin made her way back to the hotel, a slight feeling of excitement overtook her, almost similar to the feelings of the early stages of a relationship but they were mostly overwhelmed by worrying about things like what her boys would say and how Steve would feel about have kids around. That wasn’t really something they ever talked about all those years ago because their Navy careers were first and foremost. Austin’s head was spinning as she stepped into the hot running shower and she promised herself that this process was going to be one day at a time


End file.
